UPC Raising their Prices on 4th Jan Again!!!!

Freddie59

dub45 wrote: »

On the basis that UPC staff have to climb ladders to cut people off said technician could of course have been cutting people off couldn't he?

So, let's say, an Eircom or ESB tech was up ladders on Christmas Eve, then he was also disconnecting people?:rolleyes:

angel01

Freddie59 wrote: »

So, let's say, an Eircom or ESB tech was up ladders on Christmas Eve, then he was also disconnecting people?:rolleyes:

Dub45 has issues with UPC so it seems any excuse for a bitch :rolleyes:

mickeyboymel

Could a mod please put a stop to all the off topic nonsense about ladders etc. and just remind everyone that today is the last day(apart from Broadband Light customers) to cancel as Monday is a bank holiday.

Infoanon

mickeyboymel wrote: »

Could a mod please put a stop to all the off topic nonsense about ladders etc. and just remind everyone that today is the last day(apart from Broadband Light customers) to cancel as Monday is a bank holiday.

Agree - just to note the 'last day' to cancel only applies to those on a 12 month contract - all other customers can cancel when they want to.

Probably when they get their bills as only a minority seem to know about the increase

fred252

just phoned to "cancel" the contract. got a 5er of the monthly bill

Freddie59

angel01 wrote: »

Dub45 has issues with UPC so it seems any excuse for a bitch :rolleyes:

Yep. Seems so. Across numerous threads. For whatever reason.:rolleyes:

STB

Infoanon wrote: »

The UPC info channel seems to still advertising the old prices ??

No mention of any price increase.

If this is the case - and I am open to correction - this is misleading advertising?.

Yes. record it.

Glad people are seeing the light. Lashing prices up during a recession. They will soon see the price of greed. We will see how essential their "service" is soon. Perhaps it will humorous to all those who lost their MMDS services over the Christmas.

People will soon discover Freesat/FTA Combo boxes and wonder why they were ever paying for mainly the same stations that they actually watch.

Freddie I havent even used my stats yet! Happy New Year

dub45

Freddie59 wrote: »

Yep. Seems so. Across numerous threads. For whatever reason.:rolleyes:

I have outlined my reasons on numerous occasions and UPC lose no opportunity to confirm those reasons.

They are a company fundamentally lacking integrity and their behaviour in relation to the latest price increase is a perfect example of this. (and thats not to discuss at all the appropriateness of a price increase in the present climate which could easily generate up to €8m per annum for them if every customer's bill went up by an average of €1 per month.)

They made no effort whatsover to inform hundreds of thousands of their customers of an impending price increase. (They behaved in exactly the same way last year)

They apparently published an ad in the Irish Independent which has a circulation of approx 150,000 - UPC have over 760,000 customers - draw your own conclusions.

Ironically enough at a recent "awards ceremony" where all these companies backslap each other and tell each other how great they all are the Head of Customer Operations at UPC Stephen Ruschitzko said:

“Enhanced customer trust is seen as the key to achieving greater business success..."

http://www.upc.ie/pdf/UPC_wins_ICCSS_Award.pdf (Interesting how much marketing gobbledygook speak is in there:rolleyes:

How can anyone trust a company that does not make sure that all of its customers know about an impending price increase by communiciating direcly with them?

our Customer Retention Programme is designed to create an environment where our customer needs are at the heart of everything we do. With a blend of proactive and reactive initiatives in place

Doesn't every customer "need" to know about an impending price increase? More relevant aren't they entitled to be informed of an imminent price increase?

Their continued behaviour in relation to their so called unlimited products is yet another perfect example. They continue to advertise broadband products as being unlimited with no qualification whatsoever despite the fact that these are products with belatedly defined caps which are buried in their acceptable usage policy or in their virtually unreadable "conditions" tabs.

http://www.upc.ie/broadband/

They exploit the direct debit system to generate considerable amounts of money for themselves by not informing customers of charges if they miss a direct debit ( they charge you €11 if you do - tell me where they inform customers of this?)

What sort of company deliberately greys out a charge and prints in a smaller font than the rest of the page?

http://www.upc.ie/broadband/hundred/

Another example their "loyalty" agent recently assured me that Eircom were putting up their prices on 1st January next.

There is absolutely no reason for them to behave like this. They have excellent products but they are chronically incapable of behaving with integrity on any sort of consistent basis.

Many people learned of the deceit with the recent letters in respect of excessive usage on supposedly unlimited products.

These are facts in relation to a company's continued behaviour that is why I have no time for them at all. Trust them? Not on your life.

dub45

Freddie59 wrote: »

So, let's say, an Eircom or ESB tech was up ladders on Christmas Eve, then he was also disconnecting people?:rolleyes:

Well unlikely I imagine in the case of a Eircom employee as dsl is cut off in the exchange afaik?

cast_iron

dub45 wrote: »

They exploit the direct debit system to generate considerable amounts of money for themselves by not informing customers of charges if they miss a direct debit ( they charge you €11 if you do - tell me where they inform customers of this?)

I had a good look, and can find it nowhere on their website.

Esel

dub45 wrote: »

...which could easily generate up to €8m per annum for them if every customer's bill went up by an average of €1 per month.)....

Maybe I'm missing something here, or else you are referring to somewhere outside of Ireland?

angel01

dub45 wrote: »

Well unlikely I imagine in the case of a Eircom employee as dsl is cut off in the exchange afaik?

Do you work for a rival company such as Eircom?

dub45

esel wrote: »

Maybe I'm missing something here, or else you are referring to somewhere outside of Ireland?

You obviously are missing something and I am not referring to somewhere outisde Ireland. Do the maths!

UPC have over 750,000 customers - at an average of €1 euro extra per customer per month thats €750,000 no?

Over 12 months thats €750,000 by 12 which is actually €9m but I was being conservative with the €8m.

dub45

angel01 wrote: »

Do you work for a rival company such as Eircom?

No. And what has where a person might work got to do with pointing out that you don't disconnect dsl bb by climbing up a ladder outside someone's house?

dub45

cast_iron wrote: »

I had a good look, and can find it nowhere on their website.

Are you surprised?

When you think about if for a little while you will find that the dd system has to generate a considerable amount of handy money for UPC. When UPC first took over they tried to dump everyone on to dd - there was a bit of an outcry and the "compromise" was that anyone not paying by dd had to pay an extra €3 per billing period.

When you think further about it this should never have been agreed to.

Lets say that one third of UPC customers don't pay by dd. Thats 250,000 by €3 per month that UPC get which is a total of €750,000 which is €9m pa towards their "administration". An amount would would pay for 300 staff on €30,000 per year for example.

But it doesn't end there. As I pointed out above UPC charge customers whose dd bounces a charge of €11.

From talking to a couple of people who work in the bank it seems that at the moment up to 10% of dd's bounce overall. Thats hardly a surprising figure given the times we live in.

So if there are 500,000 customers paying by direct debit then up to 50,000 of those might bounce - now lets be generous and say that each of those dds "cost" UPC €6 in administation. (I am basing that figure on the fact that the ESB charge customers €6 when their dds bounce - neither do they tell customers of such charges upfront)

That still leaves €5 per customer "over" Multiply that fiver by 50,0000 and you get a nice handy flow of money no?

Surely a billing system should be exactly that and not an income stream for a company?

Also bear in mind that when your account is hit by a dd from the likes of UPC (and any of the "utility" companies) you are generally paying in advance and dont strictly owe them anything (except where actual call charges might be involved). So those dd bounce charges are actually penalities for not giving them an interest free loan!

Obviously the figures above are purely conjecture but it is difficult to think of any combination of figures which would not be generating an income stream for UPC.

Esel

dub45 wrote: »

You obviously are missing something and I am not referring to somewhere outisde Ireland. Do the maths!

UPC have over 750,000 customers - at an average of €1 euro extra per customer per month thats €750,000 no?

Over 12 months thats €750,000 by 12 which is actually €9m but I was being conservative with the €8m.

Touché.

okidoki987

I'd love to see someone quote those figures on the Joe Duffy show or the like and see what the response from UPC would be.

dub45

okidoki987 wrote: »

I'd love to see someone quote those figures on the Joe Duffy show or the like and see what the response from UPC would be.

Well they are hardly rocket science! So what are all our so called crusading journalists doing? UPC should give them enough material to keep them going for several months!

STB

I was going to suggest moving this to the consumer issues forum so that those who dont read or post in technical forums see it. Close to 17,000 reads already. How many UPC customers arent in the know.

Koloman

Matt Cooper will be discussing this issue on his radio show on Today FM this evening.

Infoanon

Koloman wrote: »

Matt Cooper will be discussing this issue on his radio show on Today FM this evening.

Adam Maguire (?) some technology correspondent was on - pretty close to useless - clearly had not done his research, was as close to an apologist for UPC that you could get IMO

Pretty poor showing from the normally good Matt Cooper programme

dub45

Infoanon wrote: »

Adam Maguire (?) some technology correspondent was on - pretty close to useless - clearly had not done his research, was as close to an apologist for UPC that you could get IMO

Pretty poor showing from the normally good Matt Cooper programme

Thats appalling. I was available but Matt never rang me!:D

Eire Go Brach

Just checked again on there site today. The Price Increase page has changed and brings into account Broadband light users. Who now have untill 21 January to accept there terms.

I am even more confused. So there not increasing the 8mb now to €32. Keeping it at €25 and there giving us a speed increase to 10mb? WTF
So it looks like Broadband light is going up to €32

So about broadband light. It's an older package.
I was on this for years. One day a few months ago I noticed the 8mb for €25. On broadband light I was paying €29 for the same speed. I rang them up and asked/complained as to why was I paying €4 extra for a different name? They refunded me. But I bet alot of Broadband light user did not notice this.
So I wonder what speed is Broadband light going to be now.

By the looks of things they have so many packages and different names over the years. That they confused themselves.

Chris_5339762

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

That number linked me into the House Move dept. Any other numbers out there? Got stung for €60 for an upgrade to HD, thats just gouging.

FWIW I just rang up the loyalty team and a very helpful man waived the €60 upgrade fee

gar

Got my latest bill and it was for up to 7 days after the account was supposed to be cancelled.
I asked about this and they said they never recieved my email they requested me to send.
I said check that i rang to cancel and she said she had seen that in the account notes. I asked here to check if the acc would still be canceled and she went off to check. She said it will despite not getting the email but for me to forward it on again to the same address.

Be careful, I'd ring to confirm cancelation if you have cancelled with them.

Gar

Infoanon

Receiving texts from UPC informing me of an increase in my broadband speed - no mention of the increase in the price....

ician

So annoyed with UPC right now. I read this thread on Dec 30th so I called them right away to attempt to cancel my account as you had to notify them within a month of them saying they were increasing their prices.

The girl said she couldn't get through to the cancellations dept. but she would make a note on my account that I called to request a cancel due to the price increase and cancellations would call me back in a few days.

Being new years and all I gave them a few days and called back today, again no cancellations dept. and the girl said well i'll make a note that you called again to cancel but whenever they do call you, you will have to give them 30 days notice.

So due to their useless service I get punished. great.

Fresh Pots

ician wrote: »

So annoyed with UPC right now. I read this thread on Dec 30th so I called them right away to attempt to cancel my account as you had to notify them within a month of them saying they were increasing their prices.

The girl said she couldn't get through to the cancellations dept. but she would make a note on my account that I called to request a cancel due to the price increase and cancellations would call me back in a few days.

Being new years and all I gave them a few days and called back today, again no cancellations dept. and the girl said well i'll make a note that you called again to cancel but whenever they do call you, you will have to give them 30 days notice.

So due to their useless service I get punished. great.

No cancellations dept.? Sounds like your getting the run around. I'd ring up again if I were you.

dub45

ician wrote: »

So annoyed with UPC right now. I read this thread on Dec 30th so I called them right away to attempt to cancel my account as you had to notify them within a month of them saying they were increasing their prices.

The girl said she couldn't get through to the cancellations dept. but she would make a note on my account that I called to request a cancel due to the price increase and cancellations would call me back in a few days.

Being new years and all I gave them a few days and called back today, again no cancellations dept. and the girl said well i'll make a note that you called again to cancel but whenever they do call you, you will have to give them 30 days notice.

So due to their useless service I get punished. great.

On no account accept this shysterist behaviour. This appears to be nothing more than wilful obstruction of a legitimate cancellation.

Email comreg immediately with a brief account of your experience and tell comreg you wish to record an official complaint against UPC.

This means that UPC will have to respond to you within a set period.

Also keep a written record of all your contacts with UPC.

I can see the basis of a thread for "best UPC cant cancel" excuses here:eek:

Edit: On reflection I think you should also email UPC and ask them to confirm to you that your sevice will be cancelled no later than 30th January as per your telephone call of 3Oth December. You could point out to them that it is not up to the customer to figure out when their cancellataions dept are available. You could also confirm to them in that email that you have made a formal complaint to Comreg.

It is bad enough trying to figure out "Acceptable User Policies" Are we now to have an "acceptable time for cancellations" document put up (buried deep of course) on the website?

If a customer rings a company during normal opening hours that should be sufficient to get a cancellaton recorded and acknowledge surely?

UPC are large company and should have sufficent staff available especially given the amount of "administration" subsidy they get from the direct debit fees every billing period!

forzacalcio

Spent the last 3 days trying to sort out issues with UPC, firstly I was given two accounts and two HD boxes. I rang to upgrade to Select Extra and enquired about my bill and was told about a €60 HD box charge which I was never mentioned to me. I explained over 8 phone calls that I wouldnt have signed up if I was told this and asked them to check their call logs. After 24 hours of no reply I called back explaining I wanted a transcript of the call I made and a subject access request. The agent mumbled something and then said I was exempt from the 60 euro charge. Bunch of chancers they are. Three weeks with UPC and Im seriously regretting it now.